Ole & Steen – My favorite Danish bakery is now in New York City

Last week I was visiting Tina in New Jersey, and she was craving carrot rye, so she asked me if I could bring her some from the Danish bakery Ole & Steen in New York? Of course I could! So Thursday morning, on my way to Penn station, I stopped by Ole & Steen at Bryant Park.

Ole & Steen has only been in NYC for a little more than a year, but they seem to be doing really great, and many of my NYC friends are already big fans of the cinnamon swirls (which we call kanelsnegle, cinnamon snails, in Denmark).

In Denmark, bakeries are usually very busy between 7-8 in the morning, when everybody stops by to get rundstykker, Danish breakfast rolls, fresh from the oven. Though at Ole & Steen at Bryant Park, it was a quiet morning, and the staff had time for a chat. I’m not sure whether it was my Danish accent or the fact that I bought 3 carrot ryes (Danish sourdough rye bread with carrot), but the Danish girl behind the counter quickly understood that I was also Danish. Before I left, she gave me one of the Fastelavn buns with raspberry to share with Tina in New Jersey. So sweet of her!

I love the baked goods at Ole & Steen, or Lagkagehuset, as we call it in Denmark, and when I am in Fredericia to visit my parents, I am a regular at the local drive-through shop. While the cinnamon swirls are good, the rye bread and the strawberry tarts (in the summer) are probably my favorites. Maybe I should make a quick guide to my NYC friends on what to order at Ole & Steen, when they get tired of the cinnamon swirls?

Fastelavn is an old Danish tradition. In ancient time, you would wear costumes, knock a live (!) cat out of a barrel and eat Fastelavn buns. You can read my blog post about Fastelavn in Denmark here. 

Ole & Steen, 80 W 40th St, Bryant Park, New York